Apple’s App Store monopoly only applies to users in the EU and iPhones. Apple also limits the opening to third-party browser engines to iOS.
Apple has updated its iOS mobile operating system Version 17.4 updated. With the update, Apple’s App Store monopoly falls: people living in the EU can now install alternative app marketplaces. Apple is also saying goodbye to the ban on alternative browser technologies.
The Cupertino-based company is thus implementing the requirements of the Digital Market Act. However, Apple limits it to the bare essentials. For example, alternative app stores can only be installed on iOS, but not on iPads. The opening for browsers that use a browser engine other than Webkit also applies exclusively to iPhones.
In fact, iPads with iOS 17.4 only benefit from a Europe-specific change. Developers are allowed to offer alternative payment information for apps in the App Store to residents of the European Union.
Apple apparently does not make the availability of alternative app marketplaces solely dependent on the address or region stored in the Apple ID. In one Support-Dokument The company emphasizes that users must also be “physically located in the European Union”. However, the locations required for this are not collected by Apple.
Apple expressly allows exceptions for users who leave the European Union for “short trips”. In this case, access to alternative app marketplaces should be retained for an unspecified “transitional period”. “If you’re gone for too long, you’ll lose access to some features, including the installation of new alternative app marketplaces,” Apple said. In addition, it should no longer be possible to update apps downloaded via alternative app marketplaces.
It remains to be seen whether the EU Commission will accept Apple’s implementation of the Digital Market Act. The future will also show whether users actually make use of this option. The developer Mobivention from Germany is going with it mobivention App Marketplace to the start. It should be available from March 7th, with a focus on corporate customers. In addition, MacPaw and Epic Games, among others, want to enter the market for iOS app marketplaces.